Family Ties: The Lost Son

"I'm not grieving."

Writer: Sarah Cassidy

Format: Audio

Released: August 2024

Series: Susan's War 2.01

Featuring: Susan

Synopsis

Still reeling from meeting her Grandfather back on Earth, Susan is assigned to assist a mother in search of her son. Priestess Vesselina is the new ruler of her world, and someone Gallifrey is keen to recruit as an ally.

But strange forces are at work on Materos, and Susan's empathy becomes a weapon to be used against her...

Verdict

The Lost Son was a great start to the Family Ties second series of Susan's War! I'm so happy that this series didn't end with just the one series as there really is so much potential when it comes to Susan's involvement in the Time War. I was intrigued that this seemed to be very close in proximity from the aftermath of The Shoreditch Intervention and Susan being somewhat angered by her grandfather's decision not to partake in the Time War. Given the artwork and the depiction of the War Doctor therein, I was expecting things to have jumped forward so that was actually some refreshing continuity. I thought the glimpses we did get of the War Doctor were fascinating and certainly leaves me wanting more in terms of a reunion, especially with this incarnation. I am sure we will get that and I'm extremely excited for it. We got a very different kind of reunion here with Susan and her son Alex. The events of Lucie Miller/To the Death really do continue to be profound and how could they not be? Susan has essentially been broken ever since and that's part of why she took the call for the Time War, but I bet she wouldn't have if she knew what she would go through here. I thought the apparent return of Alex was fascinating and I was definitely not against him reuniting with his mother given the temporal alterations possible within the Time War. I also thought that this was going to be something of a follow on from Restoration of the Daleks but I'm not sure the Eighth Doctor's timeline within the conflict would compute there. Regardless, this wasn't actually Alex which almost became a bit of a shame and was a very cheap scam by Chief Shetham. She was a decent character although given that she had already played such a main part in the episode, it was a slightly underwhelming reveal unfortunately. I understand the logic and from that standpoint it makes sense, but it wasn't enough to get me really excited. Thankfully, the emotional pull for Susan and her refusing to believe that her son could be back was enthralling and at times challenging to listen to. It was powerful stuff for sure and the family theme was played into very well. I thought Vesselina was another solid character as the Priestess and it was a good shift from the norm in having the Time Lords want her as an alley. She seems an interesting and unique choice for sure, but I quite enjoyed the setting of Materos. The politics were intriguing to explore and the use of telepathy where Susan is involved was brilliant. I like how we seem to really be playing on how she was in The Sensorites and it makes sense to tap into that aspect of her Gallifreyan nature. It provided a lot here as she felt the loss of someone else who lost their son, and given everything she has been through that put her in a difficult position. But it was also one she could relate to and emphasise with. The mystery of who took the child was at the forefront as you would expect, but I was much more interested in Susan's story. The dynamic she's building with Veklin is quite lovely too considering it is wartime and it's nice to know that they are slowly becoming friends, even if Veklin doesn't quite want to admit it! Overall, a strong and powerful start to the series and I'm keen to explore the family theme further in the finale. Surely after a tease here we get Susan encountering at least one of her grandfather or her child? Time will tell. A great listen to kickoff the series! 

Rating: 8/10